What the F*** is Manifestation? And Why You're Already Doing it
Over the last few years I’ve heard this word being thrown around a ton. Mostly on cute totes and tanks or from glamorous ladies talking about how they created their dream lives out of nothing. I’ll admit, even I throw the word around like its common knowledge, or the newest slang that everyone just “knows.”
But what is manifestation? I realized that the majority of the people I was saying this word to had no idea what it really meant. As I was thinking about how to better explain it, I came across this definition from Kathrin Zenkina:
“Manifestation is the phenomenon that occurs when something that was originally in your imagination becomes actualized into your physical reality.”
It isn’t just people bringing in dream homes or new cars. As exciting as that is, manifestation is not good or bad. It’s creating something in your life by living as if it were already true. You are already manifesting.
When you say “I knew that would happen” it happened because you fully believed it would. When you decide that people are shitty, and live with the expectation of shitty things happening, then you will continue to experience shitty things. Each one validating and deepening your belief, and as a result, strengthening your ability to manifest shitty things. Sounds fucking awful right? But we’ve all watched someone spiral in this way. We’ve all experienced some level of this ourselves.
The good news is it works the same exact way for good things. The problem is most of us are to afraid to believe we can have the things we want. It is much easier to believe the world is shitty than it is to believe we can have what we desire.
So what do we do then? Start with what you can believe. Flip your self-talk. Choose one area of your life to focus on making a change you can believe in. Then allow it to grow. The manifestation that everyone is talking about actually refers to conscious manifestation. It’s becoming aware of your habits and thought patterns, deciding which ones serve you and which ones don’t, then choosing to create more patterns that serve you and replace the ones you don’t want.
The more you reinforce the habits that are in line with your desires, the more you believe you can have them. The more you believe, the more you show up in the world as if you were meant to have them. And that is what actually brings them into being. But you have to start with what you can believe.
As kids we manifest easily because our desires are our main focus and we fully believe that we can have them. I work as a Nanny and one of the little girls I watch is obsessed with L.O.L. Surprise dolls. If you are unfamiliar, the little dolls are sold in mystery packages, so you never know which one you’re buying. The other day her mom told me how twice in a row she had gotten exactly the doll she’d asked for. As adults, this seemed insanely lucky and even a little bit magic. But to the little girl it was as expected. She wanted a specific doll, she asked for it, and she got it. She had no reason to believe it wouldn’t play out that way.
Our doubts, fears, and limiting beliefs are all learned over time, and that is what keeps us from the things we desire.
If you know you want to quit your job, but it’s too much of a stretch that you can quit tomorrow, try starting with 3 months from now. Then make the shifts, plans, etc as if it was guaranteed that you must quit in 3 months. Notice the doubts and limiting beliefs that rear up. Acknowledge the fear, expose it as lies, and rewrite the story you tell yourself. Continue to choose again and again. The more you do, the faster and easier it gets. You build, you gain momentum, and soon you look back and can’t believe how far you’ve come.
If you’re interested in learning more, there are a ton of resources out there. Feel free to reach out to me if you need help getting started.